Retailers respond to web shoppers with faster response times

Dell.com gave shoppers the fastest high broadband access time among big web retailers in November, says Gomez Inc.

Top 500 Guide

At 2.98 seconds Dell was followed by Scholastic.com (3.43 seconds), Zappos.com (3.59 seconds) and MusiciansFriend.com (3.92 seconds). Using a dial-up connection, Dell.com also provided the fastest site response time at 34.91 seconds.

In November, a shopper with a high broadband connection could access a Top 50 retail site in 6.23 seconds, compared with 14.95 seconds for a low broadband connection and 53.63 seconds for dial-up.

Top 50 Web Site Performance Index: Response Time November 01 , 2007 - November 30 , 2007 Response Time (seconds) Rank Retailer Dial Up Low Broadband High Broadband 1 Dell 34.91 8.18 2.98 2 Scholastic 35.07 7.70 3.43 3 Zappos 35.43 8.34 3.59 4 Musicians Friend 56.35 11.22 3.92 5 Macys Store 41.48 10.09 4.15 6 Footlocker 41.10 10.23 4.22 7 J. C. Penney 40.88 9.75 4.26 8 PC Connection 32.93 8.89 4.27 9 Victorias Secret 57.22 11.87 4.30 10 Saks Fifth Avenue 41.62 10.00 4.53 11 Office Depot 34.99 10.60 4.81 12 The Home Depot 58.35 13.00 4.83 13 L. L. Bean 62.14 13.42 4.92 14 Chadwicks 57.05 11.76 4.95 15 Nordstrom 37.40 10.74 5.03 16 HSN 49.54 12.35 5.07 17 Sears 44.44 11.83 5.18 18 Sony Style 64.37 16.36 5.18 19 Overstock 37.53 12.03 5.30 20 Avon Shopping 41.54 12.90 5.42 21 Netflix 39.47 12.10 5.49 22 Circuit City Home 65.43 15.07 5.53 23 Coldwater Creek 41.00 11.13 5.69 24 Williams-Sonoma 47.34 13.92 5.91 25 Wal-Mart 66.74 16.21 6.07 26 Staples 55.64 14.85 6.15   Benchmark Average 53.63 14.95 6.23 27 Newegg 58.30 15.46 6.30 28 Blue Nile 40.62 13.00 6.35 29 HP Shopping 53.09 14.92 6.36 30 Amazon 60.64 15.84 6.37 31 Buy.com 63.02 15.90 6.47 32 Tiger Direct 67.72 16.85 6.54 33 Barnes & Noble 59.62 16.59 6.54 34 1-800 Flowers 55.98 17.23 6.64 35 FTD 56.57 14.87 6.71 36 Quixtar 52.03 16.23 7.08 37 Drugstore 56.78 15.65 7.16 38 Best Buy 64.90 19.25 7.71 39 Costco 61.50 17.57 7.73 40 CDW 49.47 15.93 7.74 41 QVC 71.59 21.44 7.80 42 OfficeMax 59.70 19.49 7.82 43 Toys R Us 74.38 22.46 8.25 44 Neiman Marcus 42.31 14.47 8.31 45 Target 69.90 22.28 8.74 46 Oriental Trading 77.19 23.21 8.94 47 Peapod 41.76 15.27 8.96 48 Gap 80.13 27.72 9.78 49 Apple Store 84.90 31.08 10.96 50 CompUSA 59.36 20.42 11.08 All data for this report is collected by the Gomez Last Mile network, 30 times an hour from Dial Up, Low and High Broadband users across the United States, 24 hours a day except between 3AM to 6AM EDT. Response Time is the average of each test measurement to download the web site content divided by the total number of tests. CopyrightŠ 2007 Gomez, Inc.